[This is your basic editor’s column. Originally, I’d planned to use it for It was a smallish book, somewhere between a Gideon New Testament and an The King in Yellow.<\/p>\n It was a first edition published, as memory serves, in 1895. How long it A few weeks ago I went back to retrieve it again, meaning to verify some The old card catalogs beckoned, and I hurried over to the banks of narrow The librarian who came to my aid was perplexed; if the book had been lost, Fortunately, two other University campuses were listed as possessing copies Imagination is a wonderful thing; it spawned HPL’s organic Mythos, prodding An Unspeakable Oath?<\/p>\n Well then, we’ve all come to the right place.<\/p>\n This past August, Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island hosted the Jon B. Cooke, one of the afore-mentioned Friends, put together a 44-page A project like this does not get off the ground without a lot of effort Damon Lipinski, for getting me into Call of Cthulhu and pressing me to read Kendall Carnes for selling me all sorts of great Lovecraft stuff at inflated Kevin Ross, Scott Aniolowski, and Jon Cooke for their support and advice.<\/p>\n Lynn Willis and Keith Herber of Chaosium, Inc., who gave this zine the go-ahead The Columbia Cthulhu Cartel, for playtesting “Within You Without You” Shea Reynolds and Jeff Barber for their amazing artwork and ceaseless energy.<\/p>\n Finally, a big thanks to Kim Stewart for tending my “mental disorder”.<\/p>\n
\nconvention announcements and miscellaneous garbage after the first issue
\nwas released, but it has remained a very personal soapbox for me and my
\nviews, however ludicrous. It is unabashedly inspired by “The Cosmic
\nStreetcorner,” a column in my all-time-favorite gaming magazine, GATEWAYS.
\nThe title is a take-off on a CoC spell, “The Dread Curse of Azathoth.”
\nIn TUO10 it finally lives up to its name and is only a single page long.]<\/em><\/p>\n
\nissue of Reader’s Digest; hardbound, black, with a murky figure on one corner
\nof the cover. The spine identified the author as Robert W. Chambers. Title?<\/p>\n
\nhad been in the library of the University of Missouri-Columbia I do not
\nknow, but it is not improbable that it had been in the collection since
\npublication. Last March, ecstatic at the find, I checked it out and perused
\nthe short stories it contained. At the time I considered keeping it, reporting
\nit “lost” and paying whatever fine they asked. But in the end
\nI dropped it in the book return slot, and that night I slept well.<\/p>\n
\nof my scribbled notes from the previous spring. Requesting “king in
\nyellow” from the library’s computer directory, I was greeted with “title
\nnot found”. Puzzled, I asked for an author listing for “chambers,
\nrobert”. Scanning the ten or so resulting entries confirmed it: The
\nKing in Yellow was not there.<\/p>\n
\nwooden drawers, reminiscent of the great Yithian library lost under the
\nAustralian sands. Once again, The King in Yellow refused to manifest itself.
\nA physical search through Chambers’ section on the bookshelves further confirmed
\nthe title’s odd status.<\/p>\n
\nthere would still be a record of it. But there was none; as far as she could
\ntell, the library of the University of Missouri-Columbia had never seen
\nit — my memory to the contrary.<\/p>\n
\nof the book, and so I requested for one of them to be sent here. Unfortunately,
\nneither was the same first edition. One was an Ace paperback from the late
\n1960’s; the other, a quickie reprint for libraries. The paperback made the
\njourney here intact, yet within an hour of my picking it up I left it behind
\nin a large lecture hall. Realizing my misfortune that night, I rushed across
\ncampus and rescued the book from the phalanx of janitors sweeping through
\nthe room. It seemed that The King in Yellow and I were magnetically charged,
\neach repelling the other.<\/p>\n
\nwriters from Robert Bloch to Sandy Peterson to join in. Occasionally, though,
\nthe real world seems to be just as conspiratorially mocking as any of Lovecraft’s
\ncosmic beings; at such times, imagination leads us to see dangers where
\nthey may not be — we wonder about the strange man in the overcoat who smells
\nof the sea. When life’s conundrums refuse to resolve themselves as neatly
\nas our role-playing adventures, are we not likely to rail against the implacable
\nfates? Are we not likely to utter a blasphemous curse?<\/p>\n
\n
\nH.P. Lovecraft Centennial Conference to celebrate the anniversary of his
\nbirth. This four-day function saw the delivery of a number of papers on
\nLovecraft, as well as more than a few interesting events. Several HPL-related
\nfilms were shown, including the premiere of Bride of the Re-Animator, and
\nthe last day saw the official dedication of a large Lovecraft monument and
\nplaque on the campus made possible through the laudable efforts of the Friends
\nof H.P. Lovecraft.<\/p>\n
\nguidebook to the weekend’s events. It is very well produced and contains
\ncontributions from Ramsey Campbell, Gahan Wilson, S.T. Joshi, and many more.
\nCooke still has a few copies left, for $5.50 postpaid, and they are well
\nworth getting. Write Jon at 106 Hanover Ave.; Pawtucket, RI 02861. Tell
\nhim the Oath sent you.<\/p>\n
\nand support. I’d like to thank the following people for a lot more things
\nthan I have room to list here (especially since this issue needs to be finished
\nin another fifteen minutes):<\/p>\n
\nHPL.<\/p>\n
\nprices.<\/p>\n
\nand spread the word.<\/p>\n
\n(they did the really wrong thing, by the way) and for making GM’ing so enjoyable.<\/p>\n